I think part of the problem (if you could call it that) is that there's a much larger female population on Gaf and now Resetera, and so you get these supposed white knights virtue signalling to show the girls that hey man they're really sensitive and not like other guys. They get offended and defensive on behalf of the opposite sex in an effort to maybe just maybe get a whiff of their knickers.

I disapprove of this practice, it's nauseating.

*disclaimer* I may be totally wrong, and in case any hot internet girls are reading this I'm not like other guys honest, here let me sign your PETA petition and then we can go and enjoy the smell of our own farts *disclaimer*

I can't say for sure that 'white knighting' (or maybe more generally 'virtue signalling') isn't an element of it, but I think it's mostly genuine strongly-held beliefs that you run into on places like Era. Maybe that stems from them occupying a pretty different part of the Internet than we do -- predominantly American, very left-wing (even by our standards), everything viewed through a politicised lens, a less caustic sense of humour.

It is a very early-20s-Americans-on-Twitter thing for you to parse every remark as indicating a person's underlying political values, and then loudly tell that person off if their perceived values don't match your own. I think one thing this place gets right is at least containing that kind of discussion to a few politics-oriented threads.

But it's not entirely a bad system they have: it means genuine racists and sexists are banned very quickly, and it makes it less likely that anyone will accidentally make someone (be it a woman or a minority or whatever) feel uncomfortable.

Karl wrote:It is a very early-20s-Americans-on-Twitter thing for you to parse every remark as indicating a person's underlying political values, and then loudly tell that person off if their perceived values don't match your own.

Exactly this! I don't like what is going on with 'discussion' coming from the US - the you're 'either with us or against us mentality.' But I saw a headline from The Guardian criticising Taylor Swift for not being like most other celebrities and coming out and publicly condemning Trump.

The Guardian wrote:In the year since Donald Trump was elected, the entertainment world has been largely united in its disdain for his presidency. But a notable voice has been missing from the chorus: that of Taylor Swift, the world’s biggest pop star. Her silence is striking

So this writer was not content with having many celebs share their opinion they wanted Taylor Swift to publicly declare her allegiance. Presumably if Swift condemned Trump then she would be classified as 'sanctioned' and if Swift supported Trump she would be vilified. By the reporter using their platform to attack Taylor Swift for not proclaiming the same opinion this is effectively an attack on free speech.

Going back to ResetEra people are being warned for expressing opinions outside the hot topic of sexual politics. There was a thread about Ben Kuchera's comments on Xbox X v PS4 Pro. A forumite wrote 'A Ben Kuchera opinion piece, really?' They received the warning 'User has been warned: thread whining.' ! FFS that's what forums are - a place for people to share their opinions, often by whining!